YMMV / Kataklysm

• Broken Base:
  • Generally, Kataklysm fans are split in four parties: those who only like the Sylvain era material, those who only like the Maurizio era, those who like all of their material up to and including Shadows & Dust (or In the Arms of Devastation, which is when they moved away from brutal death entirely), and those who love every release they've done.
  • Even the band's most diehard fans have shown a bit of a distaste for Victims; while it isn't exactly hated, it usually is seen as the one album that sticks out among their discography due to its heavy hardcore elements and overall odd choice of sound. The band themselves seem to agree, as they re-recorded the entire album in 2005, even rewriting some parts entirely.
  • Their production style is a frequent point of contention regarding their modern material. Some think it's part of what makes them stand out, others think it's far too clean and plastic-sounding for death metal and makes them sound too much like a nu-metalcore band.
• Critical Dissonance: Heaven's Venom was very well-received and has its songs played live very often; Maurizio himself considered it at the time to be the band's finest work. With that being said, it is almost unanimously seen by long-time fans and death metal listeners as their absolute worst album. The fact that the next two albums after it were much better-received doesn't really help matters. Most people cite the slower songwriting and increased melodic leads as a few reasons for its inferiority.
• First Installment Wins: There are a surprisingly high amount of fans who still consider Sorcery to be their best album. This also applies to the Sylvain Houde era as a whole, especially among those who don't care for the melodic death direction they eventually began taking.
• Old Shame:
  • Victims. It was re-recorded for this very reason.
  • Maurizio has stated that he does not care much for Prevail; though he never established exactly why, he said in an interview that when the band wrote it, he "knew that it wasn't the best record we have done".
  • While he doesn't dislike them, Maurizio has described the Sylvain-era records as "not making a lot of sense."
• Vindicated by History: Temple of Knowledge is now seen as one of the group's finest releases, but it was thrashed by critics at release as an incoherent mess.

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